Bumper for railroad-cars.



No. 740,325 v PATENTED S]E2PT.29,1903.v

. 3. M. SMITH.

BUMPER FOR RAILROAD CARS.

N0 MODEL.

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z/a'zeadea flyazz qr form 11, the end of which is curved, as at 12, to fit the curved portion 9 of the plate before referred to, and the upper side of said plate or platform has formed therein a rectangular recess'18, the'rear edge of which is preferably Patented September 29, 1903.

PATENT oFFl CE.

EDGAR M. SMITH, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

BU M PER FOR RAILROAD-CARS.

SPECIFICATION fbrn ing part of Letters Patent No. 740,325, dated September 29, 1903.

Application filed March a, 1903.

To (all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, EDGAR M. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and State of 0010- rado, have'invented new and useful Improvements in Bumpers for Railroad-Oars, of which 1 the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bumpers for railway-cars, and has for its object to combine in suchstructure simplicity and econ'omy in construction with great strength and durability in operation.

To these ends my invention consists in the features and in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims following the description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specificatiomwherein Figure l is a top plan View of my improved bumper. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal central section thereof. Fig. 3'is a similar view of a buffer for receiving the impactof a moving car, and Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional View taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates the two ordinary rails'of a railwaytrack, said rails at their terminal ends being curved and converging together, as most clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, to form a conical or semi-elliptical base, as indicated by the numeral 2.

The rails 1 are spiked to the railway-tie 3 in the usual manner, and to a tie 4 is firmly secured by bolts 5 a metallic plate 6, having formed in one edge portion of its upper facea substantially W-sha'ped recess or mortise 7, in which are seated the meeting ends of the curved portions of the rails. The meeting ends of the rails are rigidly bolted together by transverse bolts 8. The apex of the W- shaped mortise 7 is preferably cut away and curved, as at 9. Disposed between the meeting ends of the curved portions 2 of the rails and resting on the flanges 10 thereof is a substantially triangular'metallic plate or platto appear.

. shownin Fig. 1.

; through which the bolts ldpass.

meral 17 indicates a rectangular block or sad- Serial in). 145,958. (Nomodl-l undercut, as at 14, for the purpose presently Bolted to the. inner sides of the track-rails 1 are the ends'of two pieces of railway-rails 14, which are curved upwardly and. rear- Wardly to form inclined standards, and said standards as they curve upward converge or approach one another at their upper ends, as The lower forward endsof the standards 14 are also preferablyspiked to the railway-tie 3, and arranged between said ends and the track-rails 1 arefillingzblocksld,

The nudle, provided on its under side with a mortise or socket 18, which extends in a rearwardly-inclined direction from near the lower front edge of said saddle to substantially the center of the latter, and formed in the rear portion of said saddle is a socket 19, that extends from near the rear lower edge of the saddle in an upwardly-inclined direction toward the center thereof and inter sects the upper end of. the socket 18. The rear upper meeting ends of the standards 14 are-fitted in the socket 18 and are rigidly securedin place thereinby transverse bolts 20, which pass through said meeting ends of the standards and through the saddle. Said saddle is braced against rearward thrusts by two straight lengths .of railway-rails 21, which are arranged side by side in close proximity and are bolted together by transversebolts 22, filling-blocks 23 being arranged between the Webs of said rails intermediate the bolts.

' The upper ends of .the rails constituting the brace are fitted in the socket 19 and bear against the flanged portion of the standards 14 and are secured in place in the saddle by means of a transverse bolt or bolts 24, which pass through both of the rails 2lyand through thes'addle. The lower ends of'the brace-rails 21 are beveled, as at 25, and said beveled ends are seated in the socket 13, formed in the upper side of the plate 11, beforereferred to. Fixed'to the front face of the saddle 17 is a cylinder 26, provided at its rear end with a flange 27, through which pass the bolts 28, that also pass through the saddle 17 for securing the cylinder rigidly to the saddle. The cylinder, as shown, is hollow and is pro- IOO vided near its rear end with a centrally-apertured transverse partition 29,formin g a socket in the rear end of the cylinder and a chamber 31 in the front portion thereof. The cylinder 31 is rounded at its forward end and is provided with a' central perforation 32. Movably fitted in said perforation 32 is a stem or shank 33, provided at its outer orfree end with a head or buffer 34. The rear portion of said stem is reduced, as at 35, thereby forming a shoulder 36, and disposed in the chamber 31 and above said reduced portion of the stem is a coiled spring 37, one end of which bears against the partition 29 and the other end against the shoulder 36, said spring operating to project the buffer 34 outward and away from the cylinder. The rear end of the reducedportion 35 of the stempasses through the central aperture in the perforation 29 and has fixed on its inner end a collar 38, which normally rests in the recess 30 and against the partition 29 andoperates to prevent the spring from forcing the stem from out of the cylinder. A recess or mortise 39 is formed in the front face of the saddle in rear of said collar to receive the collar and the rear end of the stem when the buffer is forced inward by the impact of the car.

The operation of myimproved bumper will be readily understood by those skilled in the art. When the end of a moving car comes in contact with the bufier 32, said buffer is forced inward against the tension ofthe spring 37, compressing the latter, and the spring absorbs the shock or impact, so as to prevent injury to the car and to gradually apply the strain to the bumper. The strain is primarily sustained by the standards 14 and the saddle carried thereby and is transmitted through said standards to the track-rails, and this strain is furthermore sustained and taken up by the rearwardly-inclined brace, which in turn transmits its burden of the strain through the medium of the plate 11 to the ends of the curved base 2, which in turn transmits the strain to the track-rails 1. It will thus be seen that the entire strain is sustained by the track-rails and the efficiency of the bumper is not dependent upon the ties to which it is secured.

I have shown the base as comprising the two terminals of the track-rails bent into substantially a conical or semi-elliptical shape, and I regard this as being a material feature of the invention, for by curving the meeting ends of the rails in the manner shown and described should an unusual strain be placed upon the bumper by the impact of a heavy load the tendency of the curved rails is to straighten out, thereby acting in the nature of springs toabsorb and take up the impact, which they could not possibly do if they converged together in a straight line.

A bumper constructed in the manner described possesses exceeding strength and is perfectly capable of resisting any strain that '1. In a bumper for cars the combination with the track-rails terminating at their ends in a semi-elliptical base, ofa standard extending upwardly from the base, a support arranged in the apex of the base, and a brace extending from the upper end of said standard to said support, substantially as described.

2. In a bumper for cars the combination with the track-rails terminating at their ends ina semi-elliptical base, ofa standard extending upwardly from the base, a plate supported in the apex of the base and provided with a seat, and a brace extending from the upper end of the standard to therear end of the base, the rear end of said base being fitted in said seat, substantially as described.

3. In a bumper for cars the combination with the track-rails converging together at their-ends on curved lines to form an elliptical base, and rigidly secured together at their meeting ends, of an approximately triangular plate fitted between the meeting ends of the rails and resting on the flanges of the latter,

' said plate having a recess in its upper side,

a standard extending upwardly from the base, and a brace extending from the upper end of the standard to the rear end of the base and seated at its rear end in said recess, substantially as described.

4. In a bumper for cars the combination with the track-rails converging together at their ends on curved lines to form an elliptical base and rigidly secured together at their meeting ends, of an approximately triangular plate fitted between the meeting ends of the rails and resting on the flanges of the latter, said plate having an undercut recess in its upper side, a standard extending upwardly from the base, and a brace extending from the upper end of the standard to the rear end of the base, said brace being beveled at its rear end and seated in said undercut recess, substantially as described.

5. In a bumper for cars the combination with the track-rails converging together at their ends and rigidly secured together at their meeting ends, of a plate fastened to a railway-tie disposed beneath the rear ends of the rails and provided on its upper side with the meeting ends of the rails-rest, a standard extending upwardly from the base, and a brace extending upwardly from the upper end of the standard to the support disposed between the meeting ends of the rails, substantially as described.

7. In a bumper for cars the combination with the track-rails converging together at their ends and rigidly secured together at their meeting ends, of a standard extending upwardly from the'base and comprising two rails secured at their forward ends to the track-rails and converging upwardly and rearwardly, a brace extending from the upper 'end of the standard to the meeting ends of the rails and a saddle consisting of a block provided with two intersecting sockets in which the upper ends of the standard and brace are fitted, substantially as described.

8. In a bumper for cars the combination with the-track-rails converging together at their ends and rigidly secured at their meeting ends, of a standard extending upwardly from the base and comprising'two rails secured at their forward ends to the track-rails and converging upwardly and rearwardly, a brace extending from the upper end of the standard to the meeting ends of the rails, a saddle consisting of a block provided with two intersecting sockets in which the upper ends of the standard and brace are fitted, andbolts passing transversely through said saddle and the standard and brace, substantially as described.

9. In a'buinper for cars the combination with the track-rails converging together at their ends and rigidly secured together at their meeting ends, of a substantially triangular plate disposed between saidmeeting ends of the rails, and provided on its upper side with a seat, a standard extending upwardly from the base, and a brace comprising two rails arranged side by side and rigidly bolted together, filling-blocks fitted between the bolts and between the webs of the rails, said brace extending rearwardly and downwardly from the upper end of the standard and fitted at its rear end in the said seat, substantially as described.

10; In a bumper for cars the combination with the traclnrails converging together at their 'ends and rigidly secured together at their meeting-ends, of a'standard extending upwardly from the base and comprising two rails secured at their forward ends to the track-rails and converging upwardly and rearwardly, a brace extending from the upper end of the standard to the meeting-ends of the EDGAR M. SMITH.

Witnesses:

J OHN L. ScANLoN, M.'J. MINAGHAN.

rails, a saddle consisting of a block provided 

